Submitted by J. Wright
Taking a look at Gender roles in history we've always seen that separation was the key. Men have their roles to play, women have theirs. Men were strong, fighters, the breadwinners and ones who made the majority of decisions. while women always had the roles of Mothers, attendants to the men and children, homemakers etc. These roles have existed for a long time. Even back in the stone age the men would gather, while the women would stay home, and take care of the kids fashion calenders etc. These roles followed us pretty much throughout history. Recently however times have changed, Women have entered the workforce, the emergence of the stay home dad has become a popular trend, and some couples stand on even ground in a relationship. Now may believe these gender roles to be a "box" so to speak, something that keeps us contained in society, something that takes aways our freedom, and that children are "fed" gender roles and that they are too constraining, and that we should "break" the norms. ( i.e. video below )
Taking a in to account a much bigger picture of these things and how they work together. We see that gender roles have indeed been in effect since the beginning of time, and they've always been a constant throughout history, and even though the roles themselves have changed, they're still there. We are all born with a sex, either male or female, and for those genders we've given people a predetermined path.... that they can choose to follow. I personally feel that gender roles simply give us a guideline in life. With all the things one has to think about in life, what bathroom you use shouldn't be on the list. Many like to use the word "conformity" believing that people are stifled to one way of thinking, though history will also show us that man is capable of great things and gender Doesn't play a part in that. Men and Women have all accomplished great things throughout history. We've seen great new ideas come from people who so called "conformed" but still were free to do what they wanted. I believe that if anything is "conforming" its the growing trend of people who believe that to be free means to begin accepting there ideals of "not conforming" or being "oppressed" by social structures. Everyone wants to be an "individual" and express themselves by coloring their hair or not being tied to one sexual orientation or not marrying, But this is my question is with homosexuality and "not conforming to gender roles", are you really expressing individuality or are you just taking yourself out of one box and jumping into another?
Certain things in life we can not change, our race, where we are born etc. we are sometimes limited by these things, and the sad reality is sometimes we cant escape it. Gender roles are given, yes, Is that a bad thing, in my opinion, no. A young boy who grows up playing with Barbie dolls isn't gay but, those toys aren't made for boys now are they? I feel like people are too quick to label on both sides of the fence, people just need to the best they can in life, now I'm not writing off that there are some anomalies in life such as trans genders, etc. those people will more than likely grow up having it a little harder, but nothing is really stopping them, from excelling at life. Everyone wants to be open minded, no one wants to look like they are too for one thing and too against another, but we are all people, we all face different problems in life and try to cope as best we can, we all have the potential to do great things and to have great lives were we are and being a Boy or Girl isn't going to change that.
Taking a look at Gender roles in history we've always seen that separation was the key. Men have their roles to play, women have theirs. Men were strong, fighters, the breadwinners and ones who made the majority of decisions. while women always had the roles of Mothers, attendants to the men and children, homemakers etc. These roles have existed for a long time. Even back in the stone age the men would gather, while the women would stay home, and take care of the kids fashion calenders etc. These roles followed us pretty much throughout history. Recently however times have changed, Women have entered the workforce, the emergence of the stay home dad has become a popular trend, and some couples stand on even ground in a relationship. Now may believe these gender roles to be a "box" so to speak, something that keeps us contained in society, something that takes aways our freedom, and that children are "fed" gender roles and that they are too constraining, and that we should "break" the norms. ( i.e. video below )
Taking a in to account a much bigger picture of these things and how they work together. We see that gender roles have indeed been in effect since the beginning of time, and they've always been a constant throughout history, and even though the roles themselves have changed, they're still there. We are all born with a sex, either male or female, and for those genders we've given people a predetermined path.... that they can choose to follow. I personally feel that gender roles simply give us a guideline in life. With all the things one has to think about in life, what bathroom you use shouldn't be on the list. Many like to use the word "conformity" believing that people are stifled to one way of thinking, though history will also show us that man is capable of great things and gender Doesn't play a part in that. Men and Women have all accomplished great things throughout history. We've seen great new ideas come from people who so called "conformed" but still were free to do what they wanted. I believe that if anything is "conforming" its the growing trend of people who believe that to be free means to begin accepting there ideals of "not conforming" or being "oppressed" by social structures. Everyone wants to be an "individual" and express themselves by coloring their hair or not being tied to one sexual orientation or not marrying, But this is my question is with homosexuality and "not conforming to gender roles", are you really expressing individuality or are you just taking yourself out of one box and jumping into another?
Certain things in life we can not change, our race, where we are born etc. we are sometimes limited by these things, and the sad reality is sometimes we cant escape it. Gender roles are given, yes, Is that a bad thing, in my opinion, no. A young boy who grows up playing with Barbie dolls isn't gay but, those toys aren't made for boys now are they? I feel like people are too quick to label on both sides of the fence, people just need to the best they can in life, now I'm not writing off that there are some anomalies in life such as trans genders, etc. those people will more than likely grow up having it a little harder, but nothing is really stopping them, from excelling at life. Everyone wants to be open minded, no one wants to look like they are too for one thing and too against another, but we are all people, we all face different problems in life and try to cope as best we can, we all have the potential to do great things and to have great lives were we are and being a Boy or Girl isn't going to change that.
We all learned roles through our daily experience. It is seen and is shown every day through jobs, schools, family, media and history. Males and Females can play a part in gender roles it is vice versa. America is a land were you can do and be anything you want but throughout the process there will be people judging others. In the video J. Wright provide us with the college student performed an experiment and I think through this experiment no one really cared what clothes she had on but being human you want to look at what actually going on. But i really think they were looking at the camera man who was fooling her. And in other cases people look at each other because you might know that person.But gender roles is highly accept to run on way meaning men doing masculinely things and girls doing feminiment things. And if it is broken we look at them strangely. that what our culture see it as but other place have different ideas. There no way to try to fix gender roles individually but as a group you can.
ReplyDeleteGender roles are definitely apart of social construction,keyword social.Through J.Wright's blog post and video clip it is clearly displayed that females are brought up to be nurturers,love shopping, and be the epitimy of femininity. Males to be providers,althletic,and tough just to name a few.
ReplyDeleteHowever. I felt that Wright was alil all over the place with his topic and what point he was zeroing on when it comes to gender role. I felt he posed many questions but in return gave no answers. For example when Wright says,"But this is my questioon with homosexuality and "not conforming to gender roles", are you really just taking yourself out of one box and jumping into another?" I felt that was a great question I wish it had been elaborated on moreand maybe had a clip or survey to go along with it.But besides that question being "left dangling in thin air". My point is that with Wright's blog I heard alot of points of views but I wasn't able to get a deinite view of where he personally stands in the topic of gender roles.Other than that I feel his topic and blog were interesting and worth hearing and should be being discussed in today's media on a larger scale.